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Sometimes when your team walks away from the NFL draft with an all-star talent, it gets pretty hard not to have incredibly high expectations. That’s a battle that every Washington fan has been internally going through this offseason, ever since Chase Young became a member of the team in April.
After Young had one of the best college seasons by an edge rusher in NCAA history, many are calling for him to do similar things in the NFL. Some will warn you against expecting Young to have a major impact in his rookie season, but the good people over at Pro Football Focus don’t see an issue with aiming high with aspirations for the rookie. They recently ranked the top 25 edge defenders in the league, and Young landed at No. 17 on that list, despite not having played an NFL game just yet.
It might seem like madness to rank a rookie this high before he has taken an NFL snap — we have all seen highly touted rookies amount to nothing at the next level — but it speaks to just how dominant Young was in college and how confident we are in his transition. PFF College grading has done an excellent job highlighting elite pass-rushers from the college ranks, and the two dominant edge rushers at Ohio State who preceded Young — the Bosa brothers — both hit the ground running in the NFL. Young produced the highest pass-rush grade we have ever seen in college (95.4) and the best pass-rush win rate (22.3%). He should be a force right out of the gate.
So far in training camp, Young has lived up to the billing when on the field — he’s missed a couple of practices with a hip flexor injury — and the duo of him and 2019 first-round pick Montez Sweat could end up being lethal.
Might Washington have two edge defenders ranking in the top 25 come 2021? Who knows, it’s not out of the question.
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